keg

[ keg ]

noun

1. a small cask or barrel, usually holding from 5 to 10 gallons (19 to 38 liters).
2. a unit of weight, equal to 100 pounds (45 kilograms), used for nails.
3. Also kegger. a keg party; beer bust.

keg

/ kɛɡ /

noun

1. a small barrel with a capacity of between five and ten gallons
2. 1. an aluminium container in which beer is transported and stored
   2. Also calledkeg beer beer kept in a keg: it is infused with gas and served under pressure

Word History and Origins

Origin of keg¹

1585–95; earlier cag < Old Norse kaggi

Word History and Origins

Origin of keg¹

C17: variant of Middle English kag, of Scandinavian origin; related to Old Norse kaggi cask

Idioms and Phrases

see sitting on a powder keg .

Example Sentences

They say that the Israelis framed him in order to light the powder keg of religious war over the al-Aqsa compound.

From The Daily Beast

For the senior senator from Louisiana, the lasting image from her fourth Senate campaign will be a keg stand.

From The Daily Beast

Not her own—but Landrieu did provide an assist to a man doing a keg stand at Louisiana State University.

From The Daily Beast

We played keg parties, but everyone was there for the free beer, not for us.

From The Daily Beast

Logic is a rare bird in these parts and Crimea is nothing short of a powder keg.

From The Daily Beast

If old Piegan Smith hadn't been sampling the contents of that keg so industriously he would never have made a break.

From Project Gutenberg

A small keg, or breaker, was thrown overboard and picked up, with a bag of fifteen or twenty pounds of hardtack.

From Project Gutenberg

More than that, he always washed before eating, even if he had to divide the last water in the keg.

From Project Gutenberg

Gossoon,' he says, 'put a keg iv sherry wine on th' ice,' he says.

From Project Gutenberg

So Ralph fell to on the bag of biscuit and the keg of water, while Duff bathed and bound up his leg as best he could.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cask